20/02/2026 – 17:12 GMT+1
Mountbatten-Windsor, who was pictured slouched in the back of his chauffeur-driven car following his release Thursday evening from a police station near Sandringham, remains under investigation.
Police searched the former home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor again on Friday, a day after he was arrested and held in custody for nearly 11 hours on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his connections with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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Since his release, Mountbatten-Windsor has returned to his residence on the Sandringham estate, King Charles III’s private retreat, some 185 kilometres north of London.
Police have concluded their search at Wood Farm, where Mountbatten-Windsor is living while waiting for his new home nearby, Marsh Farm, to be ready for his planned move there.
The authorities continued a search at Royal Lodge, his 30-room former home in the parkland near Windsor Castle, just west of London, where the king’s brother and former royal had lived for decades until his eviction earlier this month.
Unmarked vans, believed to be police vehicles, have been entering the grounds throughout Friday morning.
Mountbatten-Windsor, who was pictured slouched in the back of his chauffeur-driven car following his release Thursday evening from a police station near Sandringham, remains under investigation, which means he has neither been charged nor exonerated by Thames Valley Police, the force responsible for areas west of London.
Arrest unrelated to sex trafficking allegations
Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest follows years of allegations over his links with Epstein, with the accusation centred around claims that he shared confidential trade information with Epstein when he was a trade envoy for the UK.
Specifically, emails released last month by the US Department of Justice appeared to show Mountbatten-Windsor sharing reports of official visits to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore.
Thames Valley Police has previously said it was also reviewing allegations that a woman was trafficked to the UK by the disgraced financier to have a sexual encounter with Mountbatten-Windsor. Thursday’s arrest is said to have no connection to those claims.
Other police forces are also conducting their own investigations into Epstein’s links to the UK, including assessing flight logs at multiple airports.
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing in his association with Epstein but has not commented on the most recent allegations that have emerged with the release of the so-called Epstein files.
Investigation will take time
The Crown Prosecution Service will ultimately make a decision about charging Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles yet remains eighth in line to the throne.
Andrew Gilmore, a partner at Grosvenor Law, said that prosecutors will apply the two-stage test known as the “Code for Crown Prosecutors”.
“That test is to determine whether there is a more realistic prospect of a conviction than not based on the evidence and whether the matter is in the public interest,” he said. “If these two tests are met, then the matter will be charged and proceed to court.”
Legal expert Joshua Rozenberg said prosecuting Mountbatten-Windsor would mean proving that he was acting in a “public office” while serving as a trade envoy and that he “wilfully misconducted himself”, leading to “abuse of the public’s trust”.
“And it’s more complicated because at some point (the prosecution) have got to prove to the court, perhaps at a pre-trial hearing, that this does come within that definition and that requires going back through past decided cases,” Rozenberg said.
“And so that could be quite a complicated process,” he pointed out.
While the investigation is ongoing, Rozenberg said Mountbatten-Windsor “as far as we know, is free to carry on with his life.”
